People having private or company confidential information that has outlived its intended purpose, would still be useful to unauthorized personnel; or even a competitor. Even if they try to just dispose these documents by crumpling and throwing in the trash or the print has become too light, it would be still be readable by the snoopers. Some people also do spend money to purchase packing materials to maintain confidential customer account records like credit and payment history, credit applications or employee records like medical, performance reviews, salary files, etc. According to the Privacy act, it clearly specifies proper handling, storage and destruction procedures. Violation of which can result in civil or criminal penalties.

Organizations having records which are short-lived such as reports drafts or cumulative sales data which is disposed of with subsequent revisions; The United States Supreme Court ruling in California vs. Greenwood deems disposed documents as public domain. The responsibility for maintaining privacy clearly rests in the hands of the company or individual.

It is interesting to note that businesses are required to retain certain records for varying periods of time. However, should records be requested for a government investigation, all records on hand must be produced, not just those covered under the retention guidelines. The shredding of records as they exceed retention periods makes good business sense.

Where there is an issue on the amount of floor space devoted to records storage, the cost of office space is continuing to rise with no end in sight. Filing cabinets full of obsolete records are costly to keep.

Organizations managing microfilm, microfiche, or optical storage devices as part of a records management program usually have questions like what is the disposition of the document originals once microfilmed. And what disposal method is used when a microfilm/microfiche file becomes outdated or obsolete?

Companies having a voluntary or mandatory office paper recycling program, does or does not know that the pages being collected for disposal are a golden opportunity for anyone, company insider or not, seeking to obtain private information